CMSIS-Dev (MVP)

CMSIS-Dev is a VS Code extension for running AI-assisted development workflows from the CMSIS-Dev activity bar, VS Code Chat, and optional command-line tooling.

Use it to review pull requests, review local changes, draft pull requests, generate commit messages, explain GitHub issues, and investigate failing GitHub Actions runs while keeping generated outputs available in your workspace.

Status

CMSIS-Dev is currently an MVP (minimum viable product). It is not published in the Visual Studio Code Marketplace. Installation is currently expected to use a locally built or shared VSIX package.

Features

• Actions view: launch bundled or workspace-specific AI workflows from the CMSIS-Dev activity bar.
• Runs view: reopen generated outputs, reasoning logs, metadata, and follow-up actions after a workflow finishes.
• VS Code Chat support: run CMSIS-Dev workflows through the @cmsisdev chat participant.
• GitHub integration: fetch pull request, issue, and workflow-run context, then post comments or create draft pull requests when you choose to publish output.
• Local git integration: review working tree changes, draft PR text, and generate commit messages from local repository state.
• Workspace workflows: override or add team-specific workflows under .cmsis-dev/workflows/.

Getting started

1. Install the CMSIS-Dev extension in VS Code from a locally built or shared VSIX package.
2. Open a workspace that contains the repository you want to work with.
3. Run CMSIS-Dev: Configure Integrations, choose Language Model Provider, and set the provider API key.
4. In CMSIS-Dev: Configure Integrations, choose GitHub Token so GitHub-backed workflows can fetch issues, pull requests, workflow runs, and publish follow-up actions when requested.
5. Choose a chat model from the VS Code Chat model picker.
6. Open the CMSIS-Dev activity bar item and select an action from the Actions view.
7. Follow the prompts, review the generated markdown output, and use the available follow-up actions when you are ready.

Configure integrations

CMSIS-Dev stores provider API keys and GitHub tokens in VS Code SecretStorage instead of plaintext settings.

Use CMSIS-Dev: Configure Integrations from the Command Palette or CMSIS-Dev Actions view toolbar to configure:

• Language Model Provider
  • Configure Proxy URL: set the OpenAI-compatible v1 base URL used for /models and /responses. The default is https://openai-api-proxy.geo.arm.com/api/providers/openai/v1.
  • Set API Key: store the provider API key in SecretStorage.
  • Clear API Key: remove the stored provider API key.
  • Refresh Models: fetch the provider model catalog and expose permitted models in the VS Code Chat model picker.
• GitHub Token
  • Set GitHub Token: store a GitHub personal access token for PR, issue, CI, and publishing workflows.
  • Clear GitHub Token: remove the stored GitHub token.

Additional commands and settings:

• CMSIS-Dev: Refresh Language Model Provider: refresh permitted CMSIS-Dev proxy models without reopening the integration picker.
• CMSIS-Dev: Set Reasoning Level: choose the optional reasoning.effort value sent to supported reasoning-capable models.
• cmsisDev.workflowConfigPath: workspace workflow override directory path. The default is .cmsis-dev/workflows.
• cmsisDev.reasoningEffort: optional reasoning-effort value. Empty means no override.
• cmsisDev.languageModelProvider.baseUrl: OpenAI-compatible v1 base URL used by the CMSIS-Dev language model provider.
• cmsisDev.languageModelProvider.defaultMaxInputTokens: fallback maximum input token count when the provider model catalog does not report one.
• cmsisDev.languageModelProvider.defaultMaxOutputTokens: fallback maximum output token count when the provider model catalog does not report one.

After configuring the provider API key and refreshing models, choose a CMSIS-Dev model from the VS Code Chat model picker before running workflows.

Run workflows

You can start workflows in three ways:

• Select an action in the CMSIS-Dev: Actions view.
• Run CMSIS-Dev: Run AI Action in Chat from the Command Palette.
• Use the @cmsisdev participant in VS Code Chat.

Supported chat commands include:

• @cmsisdev /run
• @cmsisdev /review-pr
• @cmsisdev /review-changes
• @cmsisdev /create-pr
• @cmsisdev /commit-message
• @cmsisdev /explain-issue
• @cmsisdev /explain-ci-failure
• @cmsisdev /plan-next-steps

Built-in workflows

Review Pull Request

Use Review PR to fetch pull request metadata and changed files from GitHub, generate a review draft, and optionally post the generated output back to the pull request thread.

You can choose an open pull request from the workspace repository or paste a GitHub pull request URL. CMSIS-Dev saves the result in .cmsis-dev/runs/, copies the review draft to the clipboard, and enables follow-up actions such as Post Comment, Open PR, and Open Reasoning.

Review Local Changes

Use Review Changes to review local workspace changes against the repository default branch.

If your workspace contains multiple git repositories, CMSIS-Dev asks which repository to inspect. The generated review is saved with the same runs and reasoning flow used by other workflows.

Create Pull Request

Use Create PR to draft a pull request title and body from local changes.

CMSIS-Dev reads the local diff, repository pull request templates, and the latest matching Review Changes output when available. After generation, Submit PR asks for confirmation, creates or uses a branch, pushes it to origin, creates a GitHub draft pull request, and opens it in the browser.

Commit Message

Use Commit Message to generate a commit message from local git changes. The result can be reviewed before using Commit Changes from the run output actions.

Explain Issue

Use Explain Issue to turn a GitHub issue into an onboarding-oriented explanation.

You can choose an open issue from the workspace repository or paste a GitHub issue URL. CMSIS-Dev fetches issue metadata, comments, and best-effort linked references before generating the explanation.

Explain CI Failure

Use Explain CI Failure to summarize why a GitHub Actions workflow run is failing.

CMSIS-Dev fetches workflow-run metadata, failing jobs, and relevant log excerpts before generating the explanation.

Plan Next Steps

Use Plan Next Steps from a previous run output to continue work in chat with the generated result attached as context.

Outputs and follow-up actions

Workflow outputs are saved under .cmsis-dev/runs/ in the current workspace. PR-related outputs include the pull request number in the filename when available, for example review-pr-pr-123-<timestamp>.md.

Each run can also include sidecar files:

• <output>.reasoning.md
• <output>.meta.json

The visible markdown output is the editable source used by publishing actions. For example, Post Comment posts the current markdown output, and Submit PR parses the current markdown output into a pull request title and body. This lets you edit generated text before anything is sent to GitHub.

Follow-up actions can appear in completion notifications, editor title actions, and the Runs view:

• CMSIS-Dev: Open Reasoning
• CMSIS-Dev: Attach to Chat
• CMSIS-Dev: Plan Next Steps
• CMSIS-Dev: Open PR
• CMSIS-Dev: Open Issue
• CMSIS-Dev: Post Comment
• CMSIS-Dev: Submit PR
• CMSIS-Dev: Commit Changes

Workspace workflows

CMSIS-Dev ships with bundled workflows and can load workspace-specific workflows from .cmsis-dev/workflows/.

Use CMSIS-Dev: Create Workflow Overrides to create editable workspace copies of the bundled workflows. After adding or changing a workflow file, refresh the Workflows view or reload VS Code.

Workspace workflows can override bundled workflows with the same workflow id or add new actions for a repository or team. See DEVELOPMENT.md for workflow schema and placeholder reference material.

Command line and MCP

CMSIS-Dev also includes a prompt-rendering CLI and an MCP server for tool clients. See DEVELOPMENT.md for CLI usage and DEVELOPMENT.md for MCP server usage.

More information

• Contributor and packaging notes: DEVELOPMENT.md